Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Onyx Boox C67ML with Carta Screen and 2x Storage Released

The Onyx Boox C67ML is a 6-inch ebook reader that runs Android 4.2.2. It first launched back in November 2014. Now a newer version of the C67ML has just launched, and it comes with an upgraded higher contrast E Ink Carta display and twice the internal storage space, 8GB instead of 4GB. The processor has […]

Kindle Voyage vs Kobo Glo HD Comparison Review (+Video)

The Kindle Voyage and Kobo Glo HD are the only two ebook readers on the current market to feature E Ink’s highest resolution Carta displays. With 300 pixels-per-inch, text is sharper and clearer than other ebook reader displays. Both the original Kobo Glo and Kindle Paperwhite have 212 ppi screens, and the Kobo Touch and […]

Court Rules Kindles Are Safe on Aircraft

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The US Court of Appeals has thrown out a case stemming from the 2013 decision by the FAA to allow e-readers, smartphones and tablets to be used during all phases of flight.  The Flight Attendants Union has been fighting this saying that people are glued to their devices and not paying attention to safety demonstrations.

The Washington Appeals Court ruled that the FAA has the authority to change its rules, including those for electronics on planes, when it wants to.

Airlines in the US, Canada and Europe have been allowing the use of electronics for a number of years now. It now looks like for the foreseeable future that reading e-books on your Kindle or listening to audiobooks is safe.

Court Rules Kindles Are Safe on Aircraft is a post from: Good e-Reader

Companies Join Forces to Provide Free eBook Reading in Airport

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Most travelers don’t count the airport as the best part of their trip, but thanks to a joint effort by BookShout, HarperCollins, and American Express Canada, the wait time might be a little more pleasant. While most airports offer limited free wifi for travelers–usually only offering access to the airport’s own website, a local news site or two, and anything else the actual shops inside the facility provide–this new arrangement will allow travelers to read HarperCollins ebooks while passing the time.

Even better, readers can download up to six ebooks a month for reading through the BookShout app, just for passing through Toronto Pearson International Airport, and can then read those books whenever they wish, including on their flights or upon reaching their destinations.

For their part, HarperCollins will make six new titles per month available, and will rotate out those six titles throughout the year to offer a new ebook selection each month. At launch, the first month’s titles included:

  • David Bezmozgis, The Betrayers
  • David Nicholls, Us
  • Clint Malarchuk, The Crazy Game
  • Daniel Handler, We Are Pirates
  • Thomas King, The Back of the Turtle
  • Lauren B Davis, Against a Darkening Sky

These titles are in addition to some of the more classic works that the publisher is making available, including titles by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Conan Doyle, Lewis Carroll, and George Orwell.

Companies Join Forces to Provide Free eBook Reading in Airport is a post from: Good e-Reader

Perfect your curating skills in preparation for summer reading lists

Manipulation isn't necessarily a bad thing. The flexibility that comes with curated collections lets you control not only groups of titles, but also what students see when they first visit your digital library site. First impressions are important and you always want them to notice something new each time so they're encouraged to return. Since you can create collections that are grouped in any manner you choose, you can always make sure there's something interesting on your home page and/or collections menu.

Now is a great time to hone your curating skills so you can create lists for summer break. Don't have a summer reading program? Create one! If you're looking for additional ideas for collections, Carol Maples and Donna Cook from Central ISD in Pollock, Texas have you covered. They're always coming up with new collections for their students, including:

  • SLJ's Battle of the Kids' Books. This comes out in March and plays off of the March Madness tournament, and is a great way to relate to your students who are into sports.
  • YALSA's Teens' Top Ten. This is one you'll want to have up during the summer so students can read them all and vote for their favorite starting August 15.
  • State reading lists, including Tayshas, Lone Star, and 2×2.
  • Award winning titles like Triple Crown Awards and Bluebonnet.
  • Advanced Placement titles for required reading in AP classes.
  • "Hot n Hurry" – used to highlight popular titles that are time-metered.

These are just a few innovative ways to use the curate feature, and next week we'll be adding a curated list to your drafts in Marketplace. All you have to do is publish it – it doesn't get any easier that that! Be on the lookout for Fantastical Fairy Tales, and we'll announce when it's ready through the blog and as a Marketplace alert (as well as provide instructions for publishing it to your site).

We highly recommend adding custom collections to your site if you're not taking advantage of the curate feature. Refreshing your collection by adding new purchases is one of the best ways to increase circulation. For schools with tight budgets, curating your existing titles in new collections is a great way to manipulate (maybe enrich? Does that sound better?) your home page and refresh your collection. Instructions on how to curate can be found on page 59 of the Marketplace User Guide, and ask your Account Specialist for more help.

Astro Pi flight case

You can’t just take a Raspberry Pi into space in your pocket or an old soft scoop ice cream tub. It’s too spiky for one thing. What you need is a block of aluminium the size of your head and some mad milling skills to make the best Pi case ever. Dave Honess explains:

The latest update to the Astro Pi project is the unveiling of the Astro Pi aluminium flight case that British ESA Astronaut Tim Peake will be using on the ISS. This will not be available to the public to buy because we’re only making a small number of them. We may however, in due course, release an object file so schools with a 3D printer can print one themselves.

The Astro Pi flight case.

The Astro Pi flight case.

The image below was taken from the CAD software that we used to model the case. The real thing will be made from 6061 grade aluminium which is standard for aerospace applications.

This is the top view showing the opening for the LED matrix and joystick along with a quad of buttons with an adjacent pair. The face on the right is used to attach it to a Bogen arm so that the Astro Pi can be held in place, for example if the crew want to aim the camera out of the cupola window.

The hole next to the joystick is to allow air to flow inside and reach the temperature, pressure and humidity sensors.

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The design may surprise you because it’s so big a bulky. It satisfies the safety requirements that ESA and NASA have in place for small payloads aboard the ISS though!

This is not a 3d rendering.

This is not a 3d rendering!

The most important of these requirements is touch temperature. There is a rule that any surface, that the crew can touch, must not reach or exceed 45 degrees Celsius. Our Jonathan Bell and SSTL’s Nimal Navarathinam did extensive thermal simulations to work out this design. That’s really hard maths to you and me!

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In space the process of convection doesn’t happen. On Earth the air warmed by a Pi CPU will rise as colder air is pulled down by gravity. On the ISS the air warmed by a CPU just stays there and bakes it. So the case has been designed for thermal dissipation in mind. There is a guaranteed level of airflow within all of the ISS modules which makes this possible.

Those pillars on the base each dissipate about 0.1 Watts of heat. All of them combined with the surface area of the case ensure that the Astro Pi can never get anywhere near 45 degrees. Inside the case the Raspberry Pi is thermally joined to the aluminium by way of a heat conductive boss / slug.

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The view above shows the hole for the camera module in the middle too. So make a mental note that the camera faces in the opposite direction to the LED matrix when in flight configuration. You can also see the corner bolts that hold the two halves of the case together.

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The ISS crew are also really fond of bungee cords, the kind you might use for camping or mountaineering with those hooks on the ends, and so the four corner columns have holes to allow bungee cords to be used to lash the Astro Pi to whatever they want.

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So that’s about it for now. The only thing left to tell you is that we’ve now reached and successfully passed phase two of the flight safety process with ESA. So it’s only phase three to go now before we get the mighty flight safety certificate that says we can go on the Soyuz rocket with Tim! Between now and the phase three review all the testing will occur at SSTL and Airbus Defence and Space.

Here is a brief summary of the tests we have to do:

RTC (real time clock) Battery

  • Measurement of open circuit voltage and loaded voltage
  • Vacuum exposure test (450 mmHg for 2 hours)
  • Post vacuum inspection for leaks and deformation
  • Post vacuum measurement of open circuit voltage and loaded voltage

Flight Hardware

  • Operation checks (verify it boots and functions correctly)
  • Power integration test (using an ISS mains AC inverter)
  • Thermal test (stress the Astro Pi to cause maximum current consumption / heat dissipation and measure touch temperature)
  • Vacuum thermal test (same as the above but in a vacuum)
  • Off gassing assessment (determination of off gassing products from materials and assembled articles to be used inside the ISS modules)
  • EMC test
  • Vibration test (Soyuz launch vehicle conditions)

Keep an eye on social media over the coming weeks for as it happens updates!

Thanks for reading.

The post Astro Pi flight case appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

Monday, May 11, 2015

‘Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle’ Anime Announced

Bahamut

The cast of Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace and Nyarko-san, took the stage this weekend at the Kanagawa Prefectural Music Hall to celebrate the 10th anniversary of light novel imprint GA Bunko (created in January 2006). The festival also announced new details for the previously announced A Chivalry of the Failed Knight and has now also announced that Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle light novel series will also be getting it’s own anime.

Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle follows Lux, formerly a prince of an empire named Arcadia that was overthrown by a rebellion five years prior. Lux then meets a series of nobile girls, starting with the princess of the new kingdom after breaking into the bathroom of the girls’ dormitory.

Senri Akatsuki began the light novel series under SB Creative’s Bunk imprint in 2013 and Kadokawa is getting ready to ship the 6th novel on June 15th. Fumi Tadauri launched the manga adaption in Square Enix and GA Bunko’s collaborative Gangan GA online magazine last year and Square will publish the second compiled volume on June 12th with Itsuki Watanabe handling the manga’s composition.

Fans of the Spring release Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, will surely enjoy this new series and I can’t wait to hear more on it! Meanwhile, to keep us all tided over, here’s the first trailer release that reveals the main staff and introduces the main characters.

‘Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle’ Anime Announced is a post from: Good e-Reader

iBooks Receives New Features on iOS 8.4

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Apple is the only major online bookseller that actually sells content on the iPhone and iPad. Amazon, B&N and Kobo all make readers visit their websites and sync the content, which is a barrier for mainstream adoption. This summer a new version of iOS will be released and it will add a bunch of new content to iBooks.

The publishing industry has been embracing audiobooks in a big way. In 2007 a paltry 3,073 audiobook titles were produced and this figure rose exponentially to over 12,000 published in 2011. In 2013 over 20,000 audio editions were released and in 2014 over 35,000.

Apple has an extensive audiobook selection in the iTunes store and the source all of their content from Audible. This summer, the audiobook experience will be changing as it will be fully implemented into the iBooks app. This will obviously be shift the buying experience from iTunes into the iBookstore.

The second major change is that iPhone owners will have the chance to open e-books made with iBooks Author. In the past, these titles were only available on the iPad and often included audio, video and widgets.

It really looks like the iBooks app is going to be a bit more intuitive for iPhones and to a lesser extent iPads. I know many readers that are going to be excited about these changes.

iBooks Receives New Features on iOS 8.4 is a post from: Good e-Reader

e-Book Revenue Increased by 11% in the UK

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The e-book market in the United States has been fairly stable in the last two years, but in the United Kingdom it is a different story.  The UK Publishers Association is reporting that print revenues dropped 5% to £2.7 billion and e-book revenues rose by 11% to £563 million. This means that e-books now account for 35% of the overall book market, which is staggering.

How many parents are forging print books and giving their child a tablet or e-reader? The exact figure is subject to interpretation,  but there is no denying the fact that digital children's books are up 36%.

"It is great to see digital growth continuing and developing in more sectors of publishing. The rise in children's digital sales, while perhaps unsurprising given 71 percent of households now own a tablet, is testament to the innovation taking place in children's publishing and the engaging content being produced," said Richard Mollet, Chief Executive of the UK Publishers Association in a release.

At the end of the day, print continues to be the overwhelming popular choice when it comes to reading textbooks, kids books and novels. Digital though, is on the rise and with good reason. Amazon currently controls 95% of the e-book market in the UK, which means they are reaping the lion share of the £563 million.

e-Book Revenue Increased by 11% in the UK is a post from: Good e-Reader

Kobo Glo HD 300 ppi Screen Comparison Review (1080p Video)

The Kobo Glo HD is the second ebook reader behind the Kindle Voyage to use E Ink’s highest resolution 300 pixel-per-inch Carta screen, and the Glo HD comes at a much lower price. I wanted to put together this comparison review showing the Kobo Glo HD’s screen up close to show how it compares to […]

Tips for Buying Kobo eReaders in the United States

Ever since Kobo decided to stop selling their ebook readers in the United States from major retail stores a few years back, it’s been a lot harder to obtain Kobo’s devices without a trip to Canada. There are only a couple of ways to buy Kobo ereaders in the US. In this article I’ll explain […]

Despicable Katie’s Minion Pi

When we were at SXSW Create in Austin back in March, teaching hundreds of kids about Bash script, we met a young lady called Katie.

Katie looks unassuming, but she’s actually an evil genius.

katieandeben

Some guy who needs a shave, and Katie.

Some of the other kids we talked to during the three-day event hadn’t done a huge amount with a Raspberry Pi before (although we saw a lot of young people who were using Pis at school or home for Scratch programming or Minecraft); but there were some real experts among the crowd – and Katie, who came along to tell us all about what she’s been doing with her Raspberry Pi, and to get some tips, was the sinister stand-out.

Katie’s been using a Pi at home for some years for a number of projects, but her most ambitious yet is her Minion Pi, which she was preparing for a school science exhibition when we met her. Minion Pi is a customised Kossel Mini 3D printer driven by a Raspberry Pi 2 – Katie’s built a custom power supply and a custom user interface on an iPad using her phone as a hotspot, so the whole thing is completely self-contained. Why? She’s building an army of Minions, her first step towards world domination.

MinionPi_RPi

(An important note: Katie is eleven years old. Like most of us here at Pi Towers, when I was eleven I was mostly making forts in shrubbery and chewing stuff that wasn’t meant to be chewed; not building complicated computing systems.)

Katie made this board to explain how her project works. Click to embiggen.

Katie made this board to explain how her project works. Click to embiggen.

Here’s Katie’s diabolical contraption in action. (Printing Minions, naturally.)

Gru Katie mailed me to say:

I’ve still got some work to do on the project (Pi Cam should arrive on Thursday), but it’s running really, really well, and the Raspberry Pi makes it easy to control from my iPad, and made it really easy to take to school and demo. People are already paying me to print stuff!

Katie’s made a very detailed build diary available (she warns me that the server it’s on is easily overloaded, so it’s possible you may have to come back later to look at it). Congratulations, Katie: this is an amazingly polished project. Please look upon us kindly when you are Despicable World Queen.

The post Despicable Katie’s Minion Pi appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

Sunday, May 10, 2015

e Ink Carta Display Screens are more Accessible

e-ink-5-638

E-Paper technology has gone through a number of iterations over the years. Some of been widely adopted by companies like Amazon, B&N or Kobo and others were relegated into obscurity. The best new screen is called Carta and is currently employed by the Kindle Voyage, Kindle Paperwhite 2, Kobo H2O and Kobo Glo HD. In the near future, with Carta prices coming down we will soon see a ton of new e-readers adopt this technology.

E Ink Carta first debuted in early 2013 and the primary benefit is a dramatic 50% increase in contrast over earlier generations of ePaper, giving e-Readers a contrast ratio close to that of a paperback book. It also offers a better refresh rate when you are turning the pages of a book. I think what I like best about Carta is that it has support for ultra high resolution screens.

Until the last few months, Carta has been very expensive and could only be viable for the companies who sell both e-readers and operate their own digital bookstore. Due to the aging nature of the technology we will soon see new e-readers such as the Energy Sistem PRO+, Boyue T62+, Icarus and the new Onyx BOOX C67ML Darwin.

The one trend I have noticed with all of these upcoming products is that they are reissues. Instead of these companies developing a brand new e-reader they are simply just adopting the Carta screen on existing products and often giving them the + moniker.

I am eagerly waiting new products hopefully towards the end of the year that have been designed from the bottom up, with a high resolution screen and Carta e-paper. People want a 3rd party reader that isn’t locked into a specific ecosystem and runs a vanilla version of Android. This empowers people to be able to install any digital reading app they want.

e Ink Carta Display Screens are more Accessible is a post from: Good e-Reader

SEGA to Discontinue Tons of Mobile Apps for iOS and Android

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SEGA has been an early adopter of bringing its hottest properties to the mobile sector. One of the drawbacks of having so many games available on Android and iOS is depreciation. Some games no longer work on modern phones and others haven’t received any updates in a year. SEGA plans on scaling back on their portfolio and discontinue a number of titles.

In addition to the games being removed from the aforementioned app stores, SEGA will also be pulling mobile titles from the Amazon App Store and the Samsung App Store. The changes will be taking place over "the next few weeks", with SEGA saying it doesn't have anything else to announce at this point.

Some users have noticed that House of the Dead Overkill The Lost Reels seems to have already gone from Google Play store. Others have reported that Sonic Racing Transformed and Jet Set Radio is a bit flaky on Lollipop.

SEGA to Discontinue Tons of Mobile Apps for iOS and Android is a post from: Good e-Reader

10 Free Kindle eBooks for Mother’s Day, Plus eBook Deals

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! Below is a roundup of free Kindle ebooks with positive reviews for your reading pleasure. Once again, Amazon is running a big sale on Kindle books today only as part of their main Gold Box Deal of the Day. The sale includes over 50 titles from […]

People are Losing their Trust in e-books

EBook_between_paper_books

The primary benefit of a print book is the clear path of ownership. Once you procure it from your favorite online or brick and motor store, its yours. There is no problem with loaning it out to a friend or rereading it for the hundredth time. e-books on the other hand is a convoluted nightmare.

When you purchase an e-book from a retailer like Apple or Amazon, you don’t own it. Instead, you are merely licensing it from the retailer for an indeterminate period of time. If you break one of the many terms of service, the book can be taken away by the retailer, or if the bookstore goes bankrupt, you lose everything.

e-books are often purchased by online retailers that act as agents for the publisher. They often provide the e-reading experience, from dedicated hardware to apps for Android or iOS.  The terms of service that a retailers provide are often 50 to 100 pages of text.  In some cases, they absolve themselves of all liability.

The Apple iBooks store makes sure to let you know that “IN NO EVENT SHALL LICENCOR BE LIABLE FOR PERSONAL INJURY OR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION . . . DAMAGES OR LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE LICENSED APPLICATION, HOWEVER CAUSED, REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY OF LIABILITY (CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE) AND EVEN IF LICENCOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. ”

Amazon on the other hand spells out the situation with daunting precision “Your rights under this Agreement will automatically terminate if you fail to comply with any term of this Agreement. In case of such termination, you must cease all use of the Kindle Store and the Kindle Content, and Amazon may immediately revoke your access to the Kindle Store and the Kindle Content without refund of any fees. . . . If you do not accept the terms of this Agreement, then you may not use the Kindle, any Reading Application, or the Service.”

In contrast, the print edition of a book has a more simpler copyright notice. It makes perfect sense and is not not written by an army of lawyers. "No portion of this book may be copied, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, including recording, photocopying, or inclusion in any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher and author, except for brief excerpts quoted in published reviews."

In the last few years the entire e-reader and e-book industry has experienced massive setbacks. The Sony Reader Store was the first digital bookstore that was incorporated on a series of e-readers.  They had a good run and closed up their online store in the US, UK, Europe and Australia last May. Hundreds of thousands of customers suddenly woke up one day that could not buy books anymore and had to deal with another company. Diesel e-Books, Txtr, Scholastic Storia and Blinkbox Books have all closed in the last calender year, leaving customers in a lark.

It is my belief that consumers are losing confidence in e-books because so many stores are closing and taking their purchases with them. In other cases they are sick of all the Apple anti-trust and Amazon vs the world drama. Others are pissed they can’t loan out e-books to friends or find themselves locked into one specific ecosystem and can’t transfer their purchases to other phones they buy, due to DRM.

Major publishers are also reporting diminished sales when it comes to e-books. In a recent financial earnings report Simon & Schuster stated that e-book sales only increased by one percentage point in the last three months, while HarperCollins said sales were  down 3%.

In the last few years I have gravitated away from exclusively buying e-books and am buying print again. Apparently, I am not alone.  Nielsen BookScan, which tracks what readers are buying, found the number of paper books sold went up 2.4% last year.

As Publishers Weekly puts it, "the 2014 figures are further evidence that print books are selling better than they have since sales of e-books exploded in 2010." The paper tome apparently hit rock bottom in 2012, but has since rallied in categories from children's books to adult non-fiction, and formats from trade paperback to hardcover.

In the end, its hard to have any faith in e-books.

People are Losing their Trust in e-books is a post from: Good e-Reader

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Disney’s Secret War Against Star Wars Expanded Universe

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Disney has been engaged in a secret war against the Star Wars Expanded Universe in order to sell more books, comics and toys.

In April 2014 Lucasfilm and Disney Publishing stated that the existing expanded universe no long happened. Any of the books and comics that transpired after Return of the Jedi are not considered canon. 17,000 characters in the Expanded Universe are officially purged.

The entire Star Wars community was up in arms when Disney said the EU is no longer canon. It was a bitter pill to swallow for Timothy Zahn, who was best known for his trilogy of books after Return of the Jedi. Heir to an Empire which focused on Grand Admiral Thrawn and Lukes future with Mara Jade.

Comic book publisher Dark Horse has been heavily involved in the Star Wars universe for the last decade. On December 2014 they bid adieu to 28,353 pages of comics  and the Star Wars license was transferred to Marvel, a subsidiary of Disney.

Why did Disney really say the Expanded Universe did not happen? Well, its a ploy to sell more books, comics and toys.

Disney ironed out an agreement with Del Rey Books to publish a series of new novels, starting with Star Wars: A New Dawn, by bestselling author John Jackson Miller. Set prior to the events of the  animated series Star Wars Rebels, this novel tells the story of how two of the lead characters of the series, Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla, came to cross paths. To tell this important backstory, Miller benefited from contact with series executive producers Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg and Greg Weisman, who together ensured this tale will be part of the Star Wars canon of storytelling going forward. It on September 2, 2014.

The latest book to be published was written by Paul S. Kemp and is entitled “Lords of the Sith.” It takes place only a few years after Anakin Skywalker’s fall, which leads to some very notable, insightful moments as we go inside Vader's head and see the anger and hate that fuels him. But just how removed is he from the man he once was? That question leads to some of the book’s most memorable moments.

Meanwhile Marvel has been working on a number of new comic book series, which has been drawing critical acclaim. The three series currently in  production is Star Wars by Aaron and Cassaday, Star Wars: Darth Vader by Gillen and Salvador Larocca, and Star Wars: Princess Leia by Mark Waid and Terry Dodson. All three take place in a timeframe immediately following the end of the original Star Wars movie – A New Hope.

Many people thought the Expanded Universe was stretching a bit thin and the best titles were the early ones. Many of them are still available in your local bookstore, which really says a lot about their staying power.

Will any of the new books and comics have the same type of longevity and staying power as the EU? What will happen to the largest Star Wars Wiki, Wookiepedia? Will more Star Wars Mobile games get canned? Was the main decision made just to sell new stuff and say “hey, the old stuff sucked.”


Disney’s Secret War Against Star Wars Expanded Universe is a post from: Good e-Reader

Google Play Unveils App Pre-Registrations

terminator-registration

Google is making it easier to generate buzz around an upcoming game. The company has just unveiled pre-registrations that will enable developers to post all of their pictures, descriptions and version numbers.

This new feature was spotted being used by publisher Glu Media for the upcoming movie-based third person shooter Terminator Genisys: Revolution.

The game is already listed in the Google Play Store, and users can click on the “Pre-register” option so they can get an alert when Terminator Genisys: Revolution goes live. Users also have the option to unregister the app just in case they lose interest.

I think pre-registration is a very good idea. It allows the app to get indexed on major search engines, even though its not available yet. In the past, developers had to wait for a specific release date before the app entry was made.

Google Play Unveils App Pre-Registrations is a post from: Good e-Reader

Happy Scratch Day 2015!

A quick blip of a blog to say Happy Scratch Day!

Scratch cat logo

Help! I’m trapped in a white box. Fetch the magic wand tool!

We’re huge fans of Scratch here at the Foundation. It was designed to teach young people how to program but it’s a great learning tool at any age: you can build your first program in minutes and pick up fundamental concepts very quickly. Whilst having fun. Sneaky!

Raspberry Pi Scratch workshop.

Raspberry Pi Scratch workshop. Yes, that is Mitch Resnick at the back!

If you’ve never tried Scratch before then today is the day to boot up your Pi and have a play. If you are Pi-less then you can use it online, but you’ll be missing out on the best bit of all: physical computing with Scratch. It’s probably the easiest way to hook up sensors, LEDs, buttons and motors to the Pi, and resources such as our reaction game and Santa detector are great intro projects for the weekend.

various components connected to raspberry pi and Scratch

Connect buttons, sensors, cameras, LEDS, goblin sticks and other gubbins to your Pi

The Foundation has supported Scratch since our early days and we’ve put a lot of resources into making Scratch on the Pi better, faster and funner. We’re just putting the finishing touches to some new stuff that we think you’ll find really exciting (I’m excited anyway :)) so watch this space. We’ll have some news this summer. We’ll also be at the Scratch 2015 conference in Amsterdam in August so if you are there come and talk to us.

Raspberry Pi Scratch workshop.

Raspberry Pi Scratch workshop. A young man shows adults why flying hippos are essential in LED traffic light projects.

I’ll finish now. My sesame seed bagel has just popped up (and you know how easily they burn) and I’m stopping you from making things. This weekend, give the repeats of Thundercats a miss and go and have a play with Scratch instead—it’s a beautiful thing.

The post Happy Scratch Day 2015! appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Sentai Filmworks Acquires Two New Anime

Ore-Monogatari

Sentai Filmworks, a North American film distribution company, has recently announced that they will be distributing two new anime to be shipped soon, My Love Story and Triage X.

My Love Story, known in Japan as Ore Monogatari, is a surprise hit shoujo about a fairly unattractive gentle giant who suddenly gains a love life when he rescues a girl from a harasser on a train. The series premiered in April in Japan, and Crunchyroll has been streaming it since. The manga, drawn by Kazune Kawahara and Aruko, has been licensed by Viz Media. Now the anime will join the manga in North American distribution, as Sentai will first release the anime through a series of digital outlets, shortly followed in home video.

Triage X, by comparison, is a raunchy assassin anime. Based on the manga of the same name, the anime follows a team of sexy nurses (and other hospital staff) who assassinate people they deem undesirable, or 'cancers' to society. The manga is drawn by Shōji Satō of Highschool Of The Dead fame. The series also premiered in April, and has also been streamed by Crunchyroll. Sentai will be releasing the anime the same was as My Love Story, first through several digital outlets, followed by a release on home video.

triage x

Sentai Filmworks Acquires Two New Anime is a post from: Good e-Reader